Fastening mechanism for refrigerator-car doors.



J. F. OOONNOR.

FASTENING MECHANISM FOR REFRIGERATOR GAR DOORS.

APPLICATION FILED MAY 26 1910.

9 9 Patented Jan.17,1911.

2 SHEETSSHEET 1.

J F. -OOONNOR.

FASTENING MECHANISM FOR REFRIGERATOR OAR DOORS.

APPLICATION PILED'MAYZ6.1910.

829G869 Patented 5311171911 2 SHEETSSHEET 2,

UNITED STATES PATEN T OFFICE.

JOHN F. OCONNOR, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR T0 WILLIAM H. MINER, OF

CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

FASTENING MECHANISM FOR REFRIGERATOR-CAR DOORS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed May 26, 1910. Serial No. 563,545.

Patented Jan. 17, 1911.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JOHN F. OCoNNoR, a citizen of the United States, residing in Chicago, in the county of Cook and'State of Illinois, have invented a new and useful Improven'ient in Fastening Mechanism for RefrigeratonCa-r Doors, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to refrigerator car doors, the meeting faces of which with each other or with the surrounding door frame are provided with a yielding or compressible packing backed up by springs mounted in suitable recesses formed either in the doors or door frame, and which packing is compressed by the closing of the doors to cause them to fit very tightly and produce effective heat insulation, the meeting faces of the doors with each other or with the surrounding door frame being beveled or Wedging to cause the packing to be compressed by the door closing operation.

Heretofore in practical operation, great diiliculty has been experienced, both in forcing the doors snugly closed so as to properly compress the packing between the meeting or surrounding faces of the doors and door frame, and also in forcing the doors open, and especially in cases where from exposure towet or moisture either from the inside of the refrigerator ear or from the outside, the door frame or doors become swollen. And frequently in opening the doors they ar very greatly injured by prying with cro -'bars or hammering with sledges.

The object of my invention is to provide and combine with the doors an improved construction of operating mechanism therefor which will serve not only to forcibly close the doors under great pressure at the final or closing movement when the doors are forced home, but also serve at the initial portion of the opening movement to apply a very great power or leverage in starting the doors open, however tightly the doors may stick or however greatly the packing may be compressed between the beveled or wedging meeting faces of the doors with each other or with the door frame, in order that the doors may lie both opened and closed without injury or hannnering, and which will enable the compressible packing to be always so tightly compressed as to afford effective heat insulation, and in which at the same time the mechanism employed for forcibly closing the doors and for forcibly prying them open may be mounted and practically combined with the doors and door frame with but relatively very slight projection beyond the outside face of the car or of the door frame, while-at the same time the operating lever may be applied to the shaft at its middle portion, and also adapted to swing through an arc of 180 degrees, and thus fit flat against the doors when they are closed or opened, and operate effectively in opening and closing the doors.

To accomplish this object or result, and

heroin my invention consists, I provide the overlapping door or the one upon which the operating shaft is mounted, with a channel to receive the operating shaft substantially flush therewith, and provide the operating shaft with a bend or offset and a swivel con nection with the operating shaft, so that by giving the lever a half turn about its own axis, it will fit snugly against the doors when they are closed, as well as when the operating shaft is given a full half turn through an arc of 180 degrees to force the doors open.

'My invention also consists in the novel construction of parts and devices and in the novel combinations of parts and devices herein shown and described and more particularly specified in the claim.

In the accompanying drawing forming a part of this specification, Figure 1 is aside elevation of refrigerator cal: doors embodying my invention, and showing a. portion of the upright sidewall of the car. Fig. 2 is a vertical, cross section on line 2-2 of Fig. 1. Figs. 3 and 4 are horizontal sections on lines 3-3 and 4-4 respectively of Fig. 2 and Fig. '5 is a detail horizontal section, similar to Fig.4, showing-the parts in a different position. I

In the drawing, 1 represents/a portion of the upright side wall of a.. refriger'ator car, 2 the uprights, of the door frame,j3 thev sill and 4 the hntel or upper horizontal member of the door frame. a

5, 5 are refrigerator car. doors connected by hinges 6, 7 at their outer edges with the get-her'is formed in. one of thejdoors, At the I wedging faceof the doors.-

uprights bf the door frame, and having beveled or meeting wedging faces 8 for engagement with each other and forengage- 'ment with the corresponding wedging faces 9 of the door frame. At the meeting faces .of the doors w ith each other and. w1th the meeting faces of the door and door frame,

the packing recess is preferably formed in the door frame. The doors are preferably furnished at their lower end faces with a metal wear plate 1e securedto the lower :The overlapplng door is .provided near its free upright edgewith a longitudinal channel 15 to receive the operating shaft 16 flush within its outer face,-and also with recessesor sockets 17 to receive the bear ings-18, 19 v in which the operating shaft is journaled, said bearings being'secured to the door by bolts 20, the nuts of which fit in,

slots or recesses 21 formed in, the door for. that purpose. The operating shaft 16' and its bearings, 18,19, thus project very slightly,

. if at all, beyond the outer face or line of the doors ordoor frame. The operating shaft l6is provided at its upper and lower extremities with crank arms 'or, eccentric ends 22, the wrist pin portions 22 of which areadapte'd to engage keepers23 on the door frame. Each. ofthe keepers 23 has an v outer jaw 24 with a wedge face 25 coacting with thecrank arm 22, orits' wrist pin or eccentric port-M1122,- to force the door closed" under great pressure p when the operating shaft is turned in the direction to force the doors closed. Each of thekeepers 23 also has a cooperating 26, having a-wedge or operating face, 27 which engages the crank arm 22 of the operating shaft, and

serves to force the-door open when'the operating'shaft is turned in direction to open-the door, a very powerful leverage being'.'exerted at the initial portion of the opening movement, owing to the nearly tangential position or arrangement ofthe engaging or co'tiperating; faces of the jaws and crank armor the wrist pin portion of the latter. And for the same reason, the

doors are forced closed under very pgwerful' leverage and the packing forcibly 'com-.

pressed by reason offthe interen'gaging wedge faces of thedoors with each other and with the door frame,- as the; crank arm of the operating shaft or the wrist pin portion thereof approaches. the tangential relation to the face of the outer jaw 24 when the operating shaft is turned sufficiently to completely close the doors.-

es'aoee I The operating shaft 16 is .furnished at its middle portion with an operating lever 28 having .a bend or offset 29 therein andv a swivel connection 30' with theoperating shaft, the -'operating' shaft 16 preferably having an enlargementfil furnished with a hole to receive the'swivel or pivot-end 30. of the bent operating shaft. The bend or.

offset/29' in the lever 28 enables its swivel end 30 to enter the hole in thef'operating shaft, although the operating shaft isv mounted in the upright channel 15 of the, door. A cotter 33 in theswivel end of the lever serves to retain it in position on the operating leve'r. When the doors are in their closed position, the operating lever is secured or locked to the inner door by-th'e lever fastener devices 341,35 and fits'suugly against the outer faces'of the doors, as will be readily understood from Fig. 3. To open.

the doors, the operatinglever is swung around to the position indicated bythe dotted lines in Fig. 3, the bend or offset 29',

inthe lever enablingthe operating shaft ,to be given a full half turn by simply axiswivel bearing on the operating shaft; As

, inmy invention,,the lever :28has a bend or offset, it is adapted'to fitsnugly'against the.

outer face of the doors, while at the same time it is also adapted for connection with the operating shaft which, fits within theouter face of'the door'in which it is mounted, the swivelfconnection of thelever with the shaft enabling thelever to be given a half turn ,as required to bring the bend or offset intoj codperative relation with the re- .cessed shaft into whatever position the shaft may be turned.

As in'my invention, the upright operating shaft and its bearings are mounted in channels or. recessesprovided for their reception vally rotating the lever 28a half turn in its in the outer face ofthe door, and as the crank arms at the upper and lower ends of the operating shaft and the 'ooiiperating keepers project only very slightly beyond the outer face of thedoor frame, and as the operating lever projects or extends from an operating shaft recessed, into the doors and is provided with an outward bend to -bring it against the outer face of the inner door, the-door operating mechanism, as a whole,

has substantially no external projection fon the outside of-the car, while at the same time.

provision is made for exerting a very powerful pressure or leverage a both closing and .openingthe doors.".This-enables the refrig- 'erator car, furnished with my doors andv operating mechanism therefor, to be built of the full width of'other 'cars and materially enlarges the carrying room or space and capacity of therefrigerator car.

I claim:

In combination, operating shaft adapte'd'to be mounted in a channel near 982,0uo d the edge of a swinging door, said shaft bewhen the operating shaft is turned into ing provided with crank arms at its upper either operative or inoperative position, sub- I and lower extremities adapted to engage stanlially as specified.

keepers on adoor frame, and-an axially ro- JOHN F. OCONNOR. I tatable lever connected to said operating Witnesses: v shaft and having a bend therein to adapt it H. M. MUNDAY,

to fit parallel to the outer face of the door PEARL ABRAMS. 

